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Mechanic Monday: Guild Manager Update!

Hello and welcome back to the blog! Since my last post where I laid out a milestone checklist for getting a prototype of Guildmanager (fka Fantasy GM Squared) to GenCon, I put my head down, worked hard, and… actually pulled it off! I finished making components for, and actually printed, the nicest prototype I’ve ever made.  I did NOT figure out a VP component, and I did not get as far as doing the rulebook in Canva, but I DID make all the other non-Hero components (including the double-sided Streak markers at the very last minute) and expanded the rulebook with diagrams.  And I DID re-learn Canva enough to (after a half hour of truly baffling false starts) make a Sell Sheet like I planned to.  It even had a QR code to the website I finally got off my ass and built/paid for.

While the prototype went to GenCon, it did not get demo’d, but that’s okay.  Just hitting my deadline is a pleasant surprise for me, and while it came down to the wire, the important bits of the design are solid enough that they’re not likely to get canned right away.  I got sleeves for the cards, and will do a bit more touch up work and then get this puppy into playtests.

Takeaways:

  • Boy a deadline helps
  • Everything takes longer than expected, be it difficulty, distraction, or too many options; budget extra time
  • I hadn’t meaningfully worked on the game in almost three years; I have to trust but verify the work of my past self
  • A little bit of work every day builds up momentum better than a big design day, but towards the end I absolutely needed a few multi-hour blocks, because…
  • Relearning and troubleshooting software eats up time
  • That said, nanDeck, SquareSpace, Canva, all MVPs

Next steps:

  • Make backs for non-Hero component cards
  • Maybe cut the Free Agency subsystem for the time being?
  • Just in case, come up with more Legacies to replace the ones that mention Free Agency
  • Sleeve prototype
  • Playtest with IronRise, game night friends, and hockey teammates
  • Build in Tabletop Simulator, host build on website
  • Nice Canva design of rules
  • Sign up to Demo/playtest at Big Bad Con?
  • Just submitted an event proposal for it there so we’ll see!

All of these are for a 1.5 month timeline; which I think is doable? Might take Ed up on help with the Tabletop Simulator mod, maybe get a full design day on the books, and not just two hours for playtesting.  The rest is definitely doable and relies on tools I’ve already gotten back up to speed on.

I think that’s it for this one.  Got my ducks in a row, just got to keep up the steady work, find some of that 2020 consistency but layer on interactions with others.  Til next time!



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